Oloruntoba, Z. K. (1934 - 2014)

Chief Zacheus Olowonubi Oloruntoba was a Yoruba chieftain, born in Ogidi, Nigeria. He was said to have begun painting when he was 15 and was one of the significant representatives of the 1960s art school that flourished in the Nigerian city of Osogbo from 1962 onwards, under the auspices of the Mbari Mbayo Club. Z.K. Oloruntoba used his dreams to channel communications and healing energies between the world of the living and the Yoruba spirit realms—both traditionally conceived and personally imagined—that he portrayed in his paintings. After the 1960s he moved to Ibadan, where he met musician Ornette Coleman in the 1970s, travelling to New York and working extensively with him, designing record covers and artwork for a range of releases on the free jazz pioneer’s own label, Artists’ House.